more great finds!

Estatesales.net is my new friend :)

Over the weekend I had more amazing finds. On Saturday while Paula was at her doll making class I drove down to River Road and found one where a wealthy woman had passed. She had amazing taste in clothing in my size and I picked up a couple of beautiful pieces by Coldwater Creek.

Then I went a few blocks away to another sale from a fellow who had lived in China. I got a gorgeous big mirror with oriental dragons around it that he said came from a Buddist temple. I also got a beautiful little blue and green crystal foo dog that was just exquisite and in a very fancy presentation type box; the detailing reminded me of Lalique so for only $5 I grabbed it. I brought it home and did some research on the web googling the maker on the box “Grand Crystal of Taiwan” and found it is by a glass artist named Heinrich Wang for the company Tittot who were the first to produce art glass in China, similar pieces I found by them on ebay range from $400-$750! This one appears to be an early piece and is signed and numbered underneath. Pretty cool find!

On Sunday morning I got up early & told Paula I think we needed to go back to the great estate sale off River Road that I’d told her about. And boy am I glad I did! It was a madhouse as everything was now half off, I’d never seen such a line to get into a sale but since I already knew the layout I bee-lined back to the clothes. I ended up buying pretty much a whole new wardrobe of really nice separates by Coldwater Creek and Chico for an average of $3-4 a piece that would be $70-80 or more each new including 2 pairs of pants, 3 long skirts, several tank tops, a dress with matching jacket & several big overshirts & jackets as well as some nice costume jewelry. Paula got a cool red oriental style jacket & some nice shirts including a linen Liz Claiborne blouse. I am stunned to suddenly have so much really nice dressy clothing that fits & looks great!

The woman whose sale it was also had great taste in books, especially horror fiction. I was able to fill in the gaps in my own library of Stephen King hardcovers I didn’t have and picked up Insomnia, Desperation, Gerald's Game, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, Nightmares & Dreamscapes, Hearts in Atlantis, Just After Sunset, Everything’s Eventual, and Rose Madder. Other books I picked up included: The Hellfire Club by Peter Straub and Black House by Stephen King & Peter Straub; Blackwood Farm by Anne Rice; Mapplethorpe: a Biography by Patricia Morrisroe; The Monster of Florence by Douglas Preston; The Dante Club by Matthew Pearle; The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown; Cold hand in Mine: Strange Stories by Robert Aickman; Haunted: Tales of the Grostesque By Joyce Carol Oates.

And after nearly 4 months we finally got our security deposit back from the old place (VERY long story!) and Paula and I made an Ikea run & got lots more shelves so we can finally finish unpacking the stuff that is still in boxes! The new apartment will look really nice when we get it all pulled together.